Page 13 of When Annika Met Thom

It sounded plausible, but Annika couldn’t dismiss her doubts. And to be fair, they weren’t her first ones. She’d had a funny feeling about Leo for a while and even though she didn’t want to be suspicious and distrustful, she’d volunteered for this two-week on-site job.

She’d take Thom’s advice and call Leo again. She’d find out where he was staying, then go there with Percival. She could leave as soon as Thom got back with his dog.

That should improve his mood.

Weasel. Grrr.

Percival was running laps in his cage, more agitated than she’d ever seen him. No matter how much he needed the exercise, she couldn’t just let him loose in the apartment. She’d learned the hard way that ferrets could—and would—get into everything and until she knew the perils of any environment, she didn’t let him go free. He was just too damned fast.

But Percival probably had to attend the call of nature, too. She unpacked his harness and opened the cage door enough to get it on him, then let him leap to comparative freedom. She held tightly to the end of the leash as he ran around the living room. At least there wasn’t much furniture for him to get the leash tangled around. When he was worn out a bit, she took him to the sink in the kitchen that was along one wall. He was sufficiently desperate to use it, and she scrubbed it out when he was done.

Then she looked around, letting him run some more on his leash.

The decor was seriously austere. She’d had dorm rooms at college that had been more luxurious. The apartment wasn’t very big, just one big room and a smaller bedroom. The building was older, maybe post-war, and the design was functional. The kitchen cabinets, fridge and stove were lined up on the wall that backed up to the corridor, with a single sink in the middle. They were cheap and the finish was both faded and chipped. The counter was the old white Formica with gold flecks that she remembered from her grandmother’s house. There was a small plain table and two chairs between the kitchen cabinets and the one large window. She’d guess they had come from Ikea. The kitchen floor was linoleum, laid in a checkerboard pattern, and the rest of the apartment had hardwood floors. It was a little worn, but scrupulously clean.

Did Leo have a cleaning lady? Annika knew he was the worst slob on the planet. He always assumed that someone else would pick up after him. She’d halfway thought she might have to wash all the dishes and do his laundry as soon as she arrived.

Clean was a nice surprise.

Unless he’d shoved everything dirty into a closet.

She decided to look.

There was a small bathroom and a closet on either side of the teensy foyer and a bedroom with a bigger closet behind the bathroom. Both it and the living room had the windows. One large faux-leather couch was the only other piece of furniture in the main room, with a television with a DVD player perched on a pair of boxes in the far corner. In the bedroom, the double bed was neatly made, another shocker. The dresser was plain but functional, its top surface clean. Both could have come from Ikea, as well. There was a neat line of barbells on the floor and another window, this one with plain blinds.

No dirty laundry to be seen.

That bothered Annika a bit. The unexpected seemed like a portent of doom.

She went to the window in the living room and Percival scampered along the empty ledge, sitting up to look at the park on the opposite side of the road. It was easy to pick out Thom’s figure, never mind that of Cerberus. The park must have had a leash-off zone, because he was throwing a ball for the dog and she was running full-out, then returning to him with the ball. She dropped it at his feet, then retreated, tail wagging wildly as she stared at the ball. Annika smiled at the dog’s pleasure and didn’t mind the view of Thom as he threw the ball either. He was big but he wasn’t fat. He’d taken off his jacket and she could really see how muscled up he was.

It wasn’t a bad view at all. She sighed a little, thinking of Leo’s smooth slender chest and wished, just for a minute, for a bit more in that department. It wouldn’t be all bad to wrap herself around a buff guy, to be carried off to bed, to be crushed against the wall during a hot kiss…

She remembered Leo’s mocking comments about his roommate just then, derailing her train of thought just in time.“He’s so dumb, Annika. He has a job at a gym, which is probably perfect for him, and another parking cars at some garage. All he does is go to work, then come home and pump iron. He walks his dog, who’s just about as bright as he is. Maybe smarter! Once a week, he tries to fix his motorcycle, which no one is ever going to steal because it never runs. And the rest of the time, he’s trying to figure out his phone. It’s enough to make you appreciate IQs with three digits.”

Was Thom stupid?

Well, he thought Percival was a weasel, which didn’t make him a genius. He could be just uninformed, though. No everyone knew about ferrets. She didn’t know much about dogs.

She picked up Percival and went to the phone that hung on the wall in the kitchen zone. It was ancient and olive green. She called Leo and he picked up right away. Percival squirmed and wiggled, climbing around her with manic energy.

“Thom!” Leo said when he answered. “What’s going on? Didn’t you—”

“Not Thom. Annika,” she said, interrupting him. “Who answered your phone when I called?”

“Annika! Don’t tell me you’re here already?” Leo laughed, but he sounded worried.

Annika wondered who was the dumb one. “Don’t you still have call display? I’m calling on the phone from your apartment, so chances are good that I’m here already.”

“Right.” Leo laughed again and she had the sense that he was stalling. “Well, I won’t be back until tomorrow. I’m, uh, filling in for the weekend in Scranton.” His tone grew more confident as he continued. Annika bit her lip. Leo always warmed to his story once he got rolling, especially if it wasn’t quite true. Was this a lie? Why would he lie to her?

Leo continued. “Friend of mine got sick suddenly and needed someone to help out. He didn’t want to let the clinic down, and I was between posts, so I offered to help. I’ve got to be here tonight, but I’ll be back in the city by tomorrow evening. Sorry.”

Annika chose to believe, then exhaled with relief. Of course, Leo would help out a friend. And he would ensure a clinic wasn’t understaffed. He was responsible like that. “Thom says I can’t stay here.”

“Bullshit,” Leo said immediately. “He can’t throw you out. He’s my tenant and it’s my sublet. Tell him I said you had to stay.”

“You could call him.”

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